Four Easy Steps to a Relationship
by VampireSpider
Summary: Mush has a light bulb moment. Fic does what it says on the box. Slash
1. Step I: Realisation

**Step I:** _Realisation_

I probably should have realized. It probably shouldn't have taken me the better part of ten years, give or take, to figure out something as simple as the fact that I was in love with Blink.

Blink has been my best friend forever, and beyond that, Blink literally is the boy next door. It's practically teenage law that we had to fall in love. Well, if you ignore the part about me being gay. Even the way we met, way back when I was in first grade and Blink was in second, screamed for romance to blossom.

All right, sorry, I got a bit carried away there. Still, it is a cute, tell-the-grandchildren kind of story. Back in the first grade, I was a shy kid. My first day of school, I hardly spoke to anyone, and when the other kids played together at recess, I just watched, waiting for someone to ask me to join in. The first day, no one did, but the second day, I was sitting on the same bench I'd been sitting on the day before, and Blink sat down next to me. I vaguely knew Blink ( though he wasn't actually Blink back then, he was Ryan) – he'd moved in next door a few weeks earlier and my parents had dragged me over to say hello, but beyond that, I'd hardly seen him. Blink was in second grade, and when I was seven, one year older seemed like a lifetime.

"You wanna play tag with us, Matthew?" he asked me, grinning at me with that infectious grin he has, blond hair falling in his eyes (he always waits until it's falling into his eyes before getting it cut, even now) and I looked around, not believing he was talking to me. A second grader talking to someone as small as _me_? I just managed to nod my head, just barely. He grinned and punched me on the arm. "Tag! You're it!" He ran off, and I raced after him. And every day after that, if I was alone at recess, he and his friends would let me join in their games – eventually, some of kids in my class noticed, and started talking to me; after all, I was the cool kid who got to play with the second graders.

I've gotten a lot less shy since then, and much better at befriending people, but Blink and I are still friends. I mean, we're close, like I-can't-remember-do-I-live-in-this-house-or-do-you kind of close. He's the one person in the world who I trust completely, and he's also the person I depend on most in my life. I mean, come on, Blink and I? We're still going to be friends twenty, thirty years from now. We've been through everything together – the birth of his little brother, my sister moving out. I was the one Blink's mother called after he was in the car accident that meant he had to wear an eye patch for six months. I even stuck with him when he decided that having an eye patch meant he was a pirate, and we all had to call him Captain Blink for five months, back when he was nine. Blink spent the weekend at my house when his dad was taken to the hospital after having a heart attack - he survived, thankfully - and when I discovered I was gay, Blink was the one who kept me from freaking out completely, even though I still think he was a little freaked out by it himself. Blink's the kind of friend who comes to chorus events just because I'm in them, rather than because he really likes them. Of course, I return the favour by turning up at almost every baseball game he plays (and occasionally, I even go to a Yankee game with him, Jack and by extension, David. I usually spend the whole game talking with David, sure, but it's the thought that counts).

Like I said, it's pretty amazing it took me as long as it did to realize I was in love with him.

When I finally did, it wasn't anything big. Well, of course that's not true. It was a huge, gigantic, earth shattering thing. But, I don't know, I guess I always expected lightening bolts, confetti and violins in the background, or at least instantaneous attraction. I didn't expect, well, Blink.

It happened during lunch, which is utterly unromantic. I was eating lunch with Jack, David, Race and Blink, as always. Race, Jack and Blink have been friends almost as long as Blink and I have – Race and Jack were two of the second graders who let me join in, and I've always been pretty good friends with them as well as Blink. I could hardly avoid being friends with them; they spend huge amounts of time at Blink's house. Though Jack hasn't been around nearly as often after David started last year. David and I became friends first – he was in four of my classes last year, and I'm a nice guy, so I kind of took him under my wing, introduced him to a few other people in our year, but he mostly talked to me at first. At least until he and Jack got properly introduced, then, well, sparks happened (don't tell them I said that. David, despite being out, claims that he has no feelings other than friendship for Jack. I don't believe him). David and I are still pretty close – it's nice to have someone else to talk to other than Blink (and his friends – they're sweet enough, but insane and sports fans) once in a while, and I like David better than most of the friends I have in my year.

And I managed to get off the point. I'm sorry; I have a tendency to ramble. Not as bad as Blink though – you should see him when he gets nervous. The point was it happened during lunch. What should have been a completely normal lunch. Race, Jack and Blink were arguing about something to do with the baseball. Or football. Or maybe soccer. I wasn't paying that much attention, I generally ignore them once they get started on sports. David was reading_ The Great Gatsby_ or something, for his AP English class. Or maybe not, considering; David's the kind of person who'd read something like that for fun. All in all, it was pretty ordinary. And then Blink realized he'd forgotten his lunch. You'd be surprised how often it happens – Blink is the most forgetful person I know. Anyway, I knew he'd be complaining about it soon enough, so I passed him one of my sandwiches and my water bottle. My mother always packs huge lunches anyway, and like I said, it wasn't the first time Blink forgot.

"Thanks, Mush," he said, grinning at me, and I grinned back, because I can't _help_ it when he grins at me like that, teeth showing and hair falling in his eyes. Across the table from me, David rolled his eyes.

"Blink, why don't you get your mother to remind you about your lunch?" he asked. Race laughed.

"Why should she? Blink's got Mush for that." Blink laughed at that, the real mouth-open, glad-to-be-alive laugh he has and I caught myself thinking I could watch him laughing forever. There's something about Blink when he's happy – he's beautiful. And there I was, in lunch, staring at my best friend of ten years, give or take, and just realizing that he was beautiful. And that I wanted to make him laugh like that.

Of course, it didn't click right then, it just freaked me out. It clicked in algebra of all places. Of course, I wasn't concentrating on the class at all; my mind was filled with Blink. Blink laughing, Blink standing up for me when a guy from school called me fag, Blink looking scared and worried and so _young_ while we were waiting for news about his father, Blink and I wrestling in my room, Blink tickling me to distract me from my homework. Blink in his baseball uniform, him at my chorus recitals, trying not to fall asleep. The way that he's always grumpy in the morning. His arms around me, trying to get the remote when we argued about what to watch on TV (Blink has a thing for cartoon network and I refuse to indulge something like that). Blink touching me in general.

Blink and I touched a lot. I wondered why I'd never really thought about it before. About how touching Blink was more comfortable than touching anyone else I'd ever known. How just seeing Blink made me a little happier.

And that's when realization hit.


	2. Step Ia: Discussion

**Step I a: **_Discussion _

"I love Blink," I told David over the phone later that day.

"I'd hope so," David said, sounding distracted. Probably reading, or trying to do math while talking to me. Wouldn't have been the first time. He's a sweet guy, but he takes school very, very seriously. Which is frustrating when you need attention and advice, like right now. I mean, Blink would never read while we were talking. Which brings me back to my point.

"David, pay attention. I'm in love. With Blink."

"I am paying attention, I heard you the first time, and I'm still trying to figure out what exactly is new and or interesting about this."

Sometimes, David is incredibly annoying.

"No, I'm serious; I'm in love with my best friend. Can you please take it seriously for a few minutes?"

I hate pleading, but I needed to talk to someone and after David, the next person on my list was Race. And Race is a sweet guy and all, but he's far too close to Blink. And, hard as it is to imagine, he's more sarcastic than David.

Anyway, once you convince David, he's helpful.

"And you didn't know this before?" David asked, sounding a little too surprised for my liking.

"What are you talking about?"

"I thought…You just realized? Today? Mush, you've been in love with him all the time I've known you."

"No, I haven't!" Then I stopped to consider that for a moment. "Well, okay, maybe, but I didn't know - David, Blink's my best friend. You and Jack's issues aside, most people aren't in love with their best friends." David snorted.

"I don't have issues with Jack, and Mush, come on. You and Blink? I spent the first month here thinking the two of you were together. You're like…I don't know." As if I wasn't already in a state of shock. I mean, Blink and I don't act the least bit like a…okay, well maybe sometimes we're a little more touchy-feely than most. And maybe we're closer than most friends. And we spend a lot of time together. But still.

"Blink's straight," I said. And David laughed. He tried to cover it with a cough, but I know it was a laugh.

"You are no help. At all," I told him.

"Mush, what do you want me to say?"

I thought about it for a moment.

"This too shall pass?" I tried.

"Calm down, it's not that bad."

"If Blink finds out? David, it'll be the end of my _life._"

"You're so melodramatic," he said, but he sounded concerned. As if it had finally hit him that this was not a good thing, not for me, and not for my friendship with Blink. God, Blink could never, ever find out about this.

And if David had a point, well, I was ignoring that right then.

"So what do I do?" I asked, biting my lip.

"Tell him," David said, like that was somehow easy.

"David, have you been listening at all? I can't tell Blink."

"You tell Blink everything, anyway. He's not going to freak. The worst he'll do is say he's not interested."

"You tell Jack everything, and he wouldn't freak either," I pointed out. David went silent for a short moment.

"I don't have a thing for Jack, Mush, you have an overactive imagination," David said, and then paused. "Well, I suppose you could hope it'll pass."

I banged my forehead against my wall a couple of times. David made a sympathetic noise. At least, I think it was a sympathetic noise. It could have been a stifled laugh.


	3. Step II: Frustration

**Step II: **_Frustration_

When I was fourteen I had a crush on Jack. Not that that's anything special – at one point or another, every girl I know has had a crush on Jack, up to and including David's sister. He's just that kind of person – the nice, attractive boy who's great at getting attention focused on him. The fact that he was on the football team probably didn't hurt, either. But the point was I had a crush.

On a boy who sometimes spent days Blink's house. Jack seemed to be everywhere, and I mooned about, and panicked about what I'd say to him and how to act around him, never mind that I'd known him just about forever (though we weren't really close before high school – Jack always had tons of people surrounding him, and I kept mostly to Blink and Race). I thought I was in hell, seeing Jack all the time, but even then, if seeing Jack got too bad or if I didn't want to see him, I was able to go to my house and close the door.

If I close the door to avoid Blink, he'll just crawl in one of the windows. Well, okay, he'd knock on the door and my parents would let him in. My parents love Blink (hence, among other things, the huge lunches I bring to school), they'd let him in even if he knocked on the door in the middle of the night.

I wasn't going to be able to just step away from Blink. There was just no way.

Thankfully, the day of my big light bulb moment was Wednesday, and since baseball games are generally Thursday, there's extra practice. Extra practice generally means that the players are lucky to get home before ten. Blink loves those days, mostly because they give him a perfect excuse not to do his homework. I managed to get out of school without seeing him, get home without seeing him and have an incredibly pointless conversation with David, without seeing him. It wasn't exactly a relief, but it was nice to have a few moments of peace to collect my thoughts.

Of course, that peace only lasted until the next morning. Blink's my ride to school – it's not like it isn't a short enough distance to walk, but I always caught a ride with Blink and cancelling would set off alarm bells. And the last thing I needed was a concerned Blink pestering me all day. So I was faced with him first thing. Just what I needed.

For the first time in practically ever, I overslept. My mother came rushing in my room at 7.45 yelling at me to get up. Generally, I have some kind of natural clock which makes sure I wake up exactly five minutes before my alarm goes off at seven, but that day I managed to ignore both my inner clock and the insistent beeping of my Mickey alarm clock. I wish I knew how. Anyway, I raced out of bed, threw on a tee-shirt and a pair of jeans, ran downstairs, where Blink was sitting, talking to my mom.

It felt like being hit by something. I mean, not like having the breath knocked out of me, but still. Blink. In my kitchen. Which shouldn't really have been a surprise - most mornings I'm the one sitting in his kitchen, waiting for him to get a move on, it made sense that the one day I was running late he'd do the same. Still gave me a shock, though.

"Finally!" he said when I came in, fortunately oblivious to my inner flailing. "Let's get going."

I kissed my mother on the cheek, grabbed my backpack, an apple and followed Blink to the car. Blink's one of the few people I know who has a car. Granted, it's a small, red Ford which sometimes needs to be pushed to get it going, but it's still pretty nice not having to walk or, god forbid, take the bus every morning. Except that day, it looked even smaller than it usually did. I was going to be that close to Blink. Oh god.

I got in the car and fiddled with my seatbelt for a while, for lack of better things to do to control my nerves. After a couple of false starts, Blink got the car going, and we were off.

"So."

"Shut up, Blink." I stared at out the window with great concentration.

"You overslept," he said.

"No kidding." Apparently, being in love with Blink didn't make him any less annoying. That was some what comforting.

"Last time you did that, it was 'cause Jack had gotten a new girlfriend." At the time, telling Blink about my crush on Jack had seemed a good idea. At that moment it seemed like the stupidest thing I'd ever done.

Apart, of course, from falling in love with Blink.

"Mush? Mush?" Blink was looking at me with, oh joy, concern.

"Yeah?"

"You okay?" Yep, definitely concern.

"Yeah, yeah, just zoned. So, baseball after school?" Baseball is a lifesaver when it comes to changing the subject – these days, say the words 'Orioles', ' Jays', 'Red' or 'Sox' and Blink'll forget everything in favour of ranting about the Yankees. Sometimes when the speaker wasn't even talking about baseball.

"Uh-huh. You gonna be able to make seventh inning?" Thursday is also chorus practice, but I generally try and make it before they start singing – anything for Blink after all.

So, yeah, okay, David had a point. All right, all right.

"Of course."

Blink grinned and my stomach did a weird wobbly thing. That was going to take some getting used to.

I'd forgotten my lunch. I had forgotten my lunch.

David was grinning madly when I discovered it. Yeah, he was hiding behind his book, but I knew. I glared at him.

"Don't you owe me money, Dave?"

"Nope," he said, and I could _hear_ him smirking. I had a vague passing thought that maybe David had stolen my lunch, before I managed to regain my sanity. Falling in love with Blink clearly had killed my logic and reason.

"I'll buy," Blink told me, "I woe you a couple of hundred lunches anyway."

I glared at David's book once again and followed Blink up.

"You okay?" Blink asked, passing me a tray. I ducked my head and pretended to agonize over what milk to buy.

"Yeah, sure. I guess it's just homework and stuff, getting me distracted."

When I looked up from the milk, Blink was watching me, looking very concerned. And cute. But he always looks cute.

I decided to stare at the salad bar for a few moments. Just to, you know, get a grip on reality again. That failed spectacularly.

"C'mon, Mush," Blink said, kicking me gently. I glared at his foot.

"I'm fine, Blink," I said and took one of the pizza slices. It was the most edible looking thing there.

Blink didn't look particularly convinced, but he let up and we started up on one of our ongoing arguments, about Loony Toons vs. the Animaniacs. And you don't really want to know how long we've been arguing about that - you'd think by now Blink would've given in to the greatness of Animaniacs.

It felt almost normal. If you ignore the fact that I had to work pretty hard not to just stare at him.

We sat down, pretty much ignoring the others as we kept arguing and I caught myself thinking that, okay, I could cope with this. I could ignore this whole falling-in-love-thing. After all, Blink was still Blink, just as always. Still the goofy, ridiculous, sports-obsessed, cute, sweet Blink I'd always known. Except now I kind of wanted to touch him, more than usual. Kind of wanted to kiss him. Just, I don't know, do the kind of things people in love do. With Blink.

Maybe the ignoring thing wasn't going to go so well. I could cope.

Right.


	4. Step III: Admission

**Step III: Admission**

I can only remember one time when it's been weird between Blink and me. One time. In all the years we've known each other. And even that time, it was more-or-less a misunderstanding, back when Blink had a brief crush on my sister in eighth grade, right about when I was figuring out that I was gay – he thought I'd be weird about his crush being my sister (which I was, just a little), I thought he'd freak out about my sexuality (which he insists he never did, and I'm not so sure.). It lasted a little more than a week, with us being awkward and trying to avoid conversations. I said I had a lot of homework, Race was almost constantly at Blink's house and though we hung out in school – well, it was awkward.

And then after a week and a day, Blink was alone at home, save for his brother and I invited myself over, came out to Blink and everything was okay again. Which is strange, because really, it should've been the other way around – awkwardness after my confession – but Blink's never been traditional. Luckily for me.

Then two weeks after my big epiphany, we started getting awkward. Blink spent more time at Race's house, and he's never done that before, not more than once a week or so. At lunch he'd keep up a constant conversation with Jack or Racetrack about something, anything. One lunch he even spoke continually with David, instead of just talking to me. That isn't to say I was allowed into the conversations – he'd talk to me, but it was awkward, as if he was trying to avoid looking at me too much or something.

And of course, after a day or two of that – even in the fucking car he'd only glance at me every once in a while – I figured that he'd seen through me, that he'd – oh my fucking god – figured out that I was in love with him.

And that was freaking him out.

Of course, relying on previous experience the smartest thing would've been to talk to him about it. Get it out, as David told me repeatedly during several panicky phone calls at odd times of the day and one visit to his house. I had the weird feeling his mother was seizing me up as a potential boyfriend. And I knew that David was right, but I wasn't ready to talk about it, I mean, and it was Blink, my Blink – and what if he decided he didn't want such an awkward friendship, that he didn't want a best friend who was in love with him (at which point David hugged me and told me to tone down the drama).

Like I was going to be taking any of David's advice, and it's silly really, because usually I can think sensibly, usually I do the sensible thing, but there was nothing sensible about the situation I was in and I think that was the point David was missing. Or maybe I was missing it, I don't know. In the end, what I did was start avoiding Blink. Maybe in the back of my mind I thought if I backed off he'd forget, or something. Hell, who knows how the hell my mind works – all I know is that I started avoiding Blink as well. Those car rides to school might literally only've been ten minutes, but they felt so incredibly long, with us talking about nothing – or actually, Blink talking to the steering wheel, me talking to something out of the window and absolutely no conversation that went deeper than how-are-you's or good-game-yesterday. That kind of thing. And you know, I kept wanting to ask what was wrong, on the off-chance that it wasn't me, that something was completely, utterly wrong at home or something, but I kept getting stuck on what Blink's reaction to me might be. And then I'd forget about asking.

One week into that mess, and Jack stopped me between my 3rd period Spanish and 4th period English and asked me if I was okay. That's when I knew something was wrong – Jack's a great guy and all, a good friend, but he's not the most perceptive person, he never has been. And if he was asking _me_ if I was okay, chances were that'd he'd already spoken to Blink and man, then the situation really was out of hand.

Then four days later, Race cornered me after lunch and just stared at me for a while.

"What do you want?" I asked, even though I pretty much knew.

"Talk to Blink already. Seriously Mush." And then he left, typical Race, figuring that I'd know what to do.

I needed to think.

And the best way to think, apart from dancing, which I don't have enough space for in my room and I refuse to do anywhere people might see me, is shooting hoops in the driveway. Even if I'm lucky to hit once for every ten times I shoot. Considering I've been doing this since I was ten, maybe younger, you'd think I'd be better at it.

My sister was the one who taught me; she's six years older than me, and as far back as I can remember, if she had an essay or a big assignment, she'd spend half an hour shooting hoops in the drive before she got started. Told me it helped her to concentrate. Times like this, I really missed her. Tessa would've known what to do about Blink and she would've let me beat her at basket. Well, okay, maybe not anymore. But she used to when I was younger. The day after she moved, Blink came over to shoot hoops with me all afternoon while I babbled about how much I missed her. He even let me tie with him and he normally he'd beat me by, you know, a million or so.

So I skipped my last two periods, hoped my dad wasn't home in the middle of the day again, and shot hoops in the driveway. The repetitive movement was somewhat calming, the running after wayward balls less so, but it wasn't helping me reach any decisions about Blink, about us. I mean, easy enough for Race to say talk to him. Easy enough…but wasn't it? I mean, it was Blink, and if I let it go a week more, my mother'd be asking about it and then she'd be talking to Blink's father.

And then Blink pulled up, one hour too early by my watch, and my decision was more or less made for me.

"Jack said you'd left early," he said, and I wondered vaguely if the three others had a conspiracy going or something – then I made myself refocus.

Blink was fidgeting, but he was looking at me and I made myself meet his eyes.

He blushed and stared at his shoe.

"Yeah. I needed to…I didn't feel so good," I told my shoes. Then I felt Blink's hand on my arm.

"You okay?" he asked, still blushing, but he looked more concerned than disgusted or awkward.

"We need to talk," I said, staring at his hand for a few seconds before looking at him instead.

Blink looked vaguely like he was going to throw up. He removed his hand from my arm and we stood awkwardly not saying or doing much of anything, until Blink cleared his throat and I said all in a rush, "come in, let's get something to eat, then we'll talk." Blink didn't look thrilled, but he followed me anyway.

Inside the house which seemed strangely quiet, we sat in the kitchen. The eating part seemed to have been dropped. I was staring at the shopping list attached to the fridge, Blink was staring out the window. Finally, he spoke up.

"Let's talk," he said.

"Okay," I agreed. And waited for him to start. When a minute had passed and he still didn't seem inclined to talk, I started.

"I'm sorry," I told him, "I totally didn't mean to. I mean…I just…I didn't mean to make you awkward. Or anything. And I won't like, do anything about it, Blink. I just…I just want my friend back. I, uh." I took a deep breath and was about to continue when I noticed Blink staring at me like I'd lost my mind.

"Why are you sorry?" he asked, "You haven't _done_ anything. It's my fault. I mean, I'm supposed to be the straight guy, right?"

I think I blacked out a minute right about there. I mean. What? When I regained my sense, Blink was still talking.

"…and I just felt so stupid, I mean, just because you're gay doesn't mean you'll want _me_ and I didn't want to use you to experiment, so I kissed this guy and it maybe sort of worked for me, but I still, I mean, what if you hated me and I couldn't tell anyone and I don't see myself as gay, but then again, you aren't typically gay, if there even is such a thing, but the thing is , you're _ you_ and I _love_ you and maybe…maybe…" Blink took a deep breath and I tried to catch up, somewhere at the back of my mind admiring his ability to not run out of breath and then I noticed he seemed to have stopped completely and was staring at his hands.

"Maybe, what?" I asked, even though I thought I knew, because I had to _know_, because this was Blink, the most important person in my life and this wasn't allowed to be a joke or false or…

"Maybe I'm in love with you," he said.

I almost fell off my chair.


	5. Step IV: Reaction

**Step IV: **_Reaction_

"What?" I asked, once I'd regained my balance and my grasp of language.

Blink looked tortured. "I'm in love with you. And I understand that it's totally unfair, and Mush – you don't have to, you know, you don't have to – it's not your fault and I don't expect just because you're, you know, gay and…"

"I love you too," I said over Blink's rambling anxious to cut him off. Once he got going he kept talking and I didn't want him to babble for hours when we could be doing…better things.

But I was getting ahead of myself. Because Blink did stop talking, but he looked miserable, and it made my heart wrench.

"Yeah, I know. Like a brother." Again staring at his shoe. I had a slight urge to hit him over the head, but at least that meant I wasn't as utterly obvious as David seemed to think I was.

"Blink, you _idiot_, I'm in love with you. Seriously. Truly. In love with you."

Blink stared at me for a few seconds. I stared back.

Then he broke into one of his huge smiles, like the past weeks had never happened or anything.

"Cool," he said and tugged at his hair, looking adorable.

"Cool," I agreed, grinning back at him. And it was cool, I mean – everything was turning out perfectly.

So we sat there for a few moments, just grinning at each other.

"Shouldn't we be falling into each other's arms?" I asked after a while – Blink burst out laughing.

"Because this is so much like a romance novel anyway," he replied. I raised my eyebrows.

"You read romance novels?" I asked, though I knew the answer already.

Which was pretty lucky because Blink didn't answer at all, he just threw a napkin at me. I stuck my tongue out.

Blink looked at me weirdly, and before I had time to think anything other than 'Ohgodohgod' and pull my tongue in, Blink kissed me.

It wasn't anything big. I mean, no tongues involved, just Blink's lips against mine. But I bet you can guess which part of that sentence was the important part to me.

It was Blink. I smiled against his lips and when he pulled away he was grinning.

"That wasn't gross at all," he told me, and then I had to hit him. He kept grinning though.

"You're an idiot," I informed him, pulling him up from his chair. He ruffled my hair and linked his hand in mine before following me up the stairs to my room.

"Yeah, well, you seem to like me anyway," he pointed out.

"Don't get too smug," I said. Undoubtedly he would have taken me more seriously if I hadn't been smiling as much as I was. But can you blame me?

"You know," he said, once we were up in my room, sitting next to each other on my bed and pointedly not touching too much – I wasn't really sure where my boundaries went, "Race was convinced it'd end like this."

Whoa now. Race too?

"You talked to Race about me?"

Blinked ducked his head. "Well, I didn't know what to do and I couldn't exactly talk to you," he said, puffing me with his shoulder, "so yeah. Race. And he was pretty good about it, once he stopped repeating that I was straight over and over. Actually, just yesterday he told me it would be 'nauseatingly cute' when we got together. Race is an ass, but yeah. He was pretty helpful."

"Sounds like what David said to me. Once he got over the shock of us not already being together," I told him, making him laugh. I made a silent note to thank Race and David. Even if the former'd probably just shrug and say he had nothing to do with it and David would treat me to his version of 'I told you so'.

"So, what now?" I asked Blink. He just looked at me for a moment or two.

"I don't know! You're the one who's gay, I thought you'd know."

I blinked a couple of times.

"Blink, you _kissed_ me. That's got to make you at least bisexual. And you're the one who's had girlfriends before."

Blink look at me as if this was a whole new concept to him. We sat next to each other in silence for a few minutes.

"You know. I hadn't really. I mean. I don't think of myself as gay. I just kind of figured I was in love with _you_. I don't even know if it's a general guy thing." He looked at me a bit oddly. I smiled in what I hoped was a reassuring manner.

Inwardly I was flattered. And my stomach was doing cartwheels. And I still didn't know what I was supposed to do.

It was ridiculous. I mean Blink was, is, my best friend. It was stupid to be awkward _now. _

Blink seemed to be thinking the same thing, because he took my hand and squeezed.

"Hey," he said and I turned my head to look at him properly. And when I looked at him he looked so good, so much like, well, Blink, that it wasn't hard to lean forward and kiss him and this time it wasn't all that chaste. Blink was – is a damn good kisser.

"I can get used to this," I told him and he pushed at me.

"Mush, you're such a dork," he told me, squeezing my hand again. I bumped my knee against his.

"Yeah, well." I grinned at him and he kissed me again, smiling against my mouth. When we stopped, he started to say something, but I leant forward again, kissing him. It was addictive. Blink had his hands in my hair, my hands were slowly moving from his shoulders down to rest on his waist and it felt, well. It felt comfortable. It felt like…it felt natural, I guess. Which sounds soppy, but it'll just have too. It's the truth.

"My Blink," I said, needlessly, when he let up. He pretended to look affronted for a moment, but one of his hands was ruffling my hair, and he couldn't quite keep himself from laughing.

Particularly when I started to tickle him.

* * *

I finished! Whoo!

And in time to say, Happy Birthday B!

And, of course, thank you to everyone who reveiwed.


End file.
